


Just Friends, Right?

by BruhMonument



Category: Iron Maiden (Band)
Genre: Kinda, M/M, Modern AU, Slow Burn, gay little comfort fic, more of the gay™, still dont know how to tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 22:02:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30045417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BruhMonument/pseuds/BruhMonument
Summary: This has been burning a hole in my brain for a good bit so here it is. You and Dave are best bros, you obviously are down bad for him but since you think he's straight, you can't pursue anything. All that changes when you two get some weird fortune cookies and now you don't know what the hell to do.Incredibly self indulgent™®©.(Also posted on my wattpad lol)
Relationships: Dave Murray/Reader, Dave Murray/You





	1. Chapter 1

"Yeah of course! Be there soon!"

I hung up, it was my best friend, Dave. He said that he wanted to get some takeout for dinner tonight. We have been living together for a few years now, ever since we graduated highschool. I was on the bus ride home from work and I assume Dave was on his way back too, since our work days usually ended around the same time. I worked at an art supply store, Dave worked at a used record shop and gave guitar lessons. Dave worked closer to home though, so maybe he was already home.

I opened the door, it wasn't locked, so that must mean Dave was home. I heard faint music coming from the lounge area. Dave was sitting on the couch watching a Jimi Hendrix concert on TV, he didn't notice me at first, his bright blue eyes were glued to the screen, probably studying his technique. Hendrix was always one of his biggest inspirations, the reason he started playing guitar. Dave seemed to snap out of his trance after one of the floorboards creaked underneath me.

"Hi (y/n)!!!" He excitedly waved at me, scooting over a bit on the couch and offering me a seat next to him. "Isn't he just the greatest?" Dave smiled at the TV while I sat down, "I wish I could've met him."

"Yea, he's a legend." I said, "You could totally be on his level one day." I air-guitared a bit to illustrate my point.

"Yea… one day…" He paused the video, "So, what do you want to eat tonight? I could really go for anything." He got his phone out to have it ready to order. I thought for a moment and suggested we get Chinese, I've been craving orange chicken for a good while. Dave put in the order and sank back into the couch. "How was your day?"

"Nothing too eventful, I did see a guy with a really cool outfit though, he was getting spray paint, so I guess he's a graffiti artist." 

Dave's eyebrows raised in interest, "I know you do graffiti sometimes, how come you don't use spray paint?" 

I laughed a little bit at my reason why, "I have a friend who almost got arrested because the cans were making too much noise in his bag. We had to say that it was for a school project! Needless to say, we both just stick to stickers." Dave laughed as well, he didn't know much about artistic scenes but he loved to hear about my antics and projects. 

"You know, I heard once that you could put a magnet at the bottom of a spray paint can and that keeps the little ball in place." 

My eyes widened at this sudden knowledge of an important little trick. "Really? That does make sense! How do you know this?"

"I think I saw it on TV once." Dave smiled.

"Well thanks man, maybe I'll start tagging."

"Don't get arrested on me now!" He laughed, "I don't have anyone who'd help with the rent!"

After a few more minutes of banter, Dave got a notification on his phone telling him that our food was ready for pick up. We got into Dave's car and headed to the local restaurant our order was at. It was January, so it was freezing cold, but we went out without the proper covering because "it's not like we'll be outside for long".

On the drive back home, I could feel my hands get stiff and painful, maybe I should've at least gotten some gloves. The car's heater did help a bit but not fast enough, both me and Dave we're shivering like chihuahuas when we got home. The takeout helped warm my thighs, but it hurt more than anything. We ran into our apartment and quickly shut the door behind us, laughing at our own stupidity. Dave held out his shaking pink hands and compared them to my equally frozen free hand. 

"Hand me the takeout, I need something warm." Dave giggled as he reached for the bag of warm food. I turned my body away and huddled the delicious smelling radiator of warmth, Dave wrapped his arms around me in an attempt to acquire the heat source. After a bit of playful tussling, we just stood there for a bit, Dave's arms still around my torso, our bodies warming back up on each other. It felt oddly nice, not just because of the warmth, but the safeness that I felt in his arms. In a split second, I realized that Dave made a comforted hum against my ear and my face grew hot. My eyes widened, what the hell was this feeling? Dave must have also realized and quickly let go of me. Our eyes avoided contact and frantically bounced around the room. I quickly made my way to the coffee table in front of the living room couch. I nervously took out our food as Dave entered the living room. 

"What did I order again?" Dave said with a nervous laugh, I quickly handed him the spring rolls he ordered and got out my own order of orange chicken. Two fortune cookies sat at the bottom of the bag. I dug them out, I always loved to read them and store them in my sketchbook. I threw one to Dave. "What's the rule about these again? Don't read it before you eat it?" I nodded and laughed a bit, it feels nice that I'm not the only one who's invested in these superstitions.

We finished our food in between mindless banter and ate the sweet fortune cookies before we read the slips of paper, so our fortunes would come true. We didn't have Chinese food often, but we always played rock, paper, scissors to see who reads theirs out loud first. Dave lost and read his out.

"All things are difficult before they're easy." Dave narrows his eyes in confusion, "Weird, read yours next." He set his down on the table neatly next to his phone. I looked down at my slip of paper and my knees got weak.

"The love of your life will appear to you unexpectedly." I looked back up at him, trying not to look as nervous as I actually was, "You know, I did get something similar to this the last time we got Chinese." I chuckled, "Looks like I'm still waiting." Dave laughed back, but a slight brush of red tinted his face, likely in remembrance of what had happened about half an hour ago. I darted my head around the room to look for my bag, it was right next to Dave. "Throw it to me." I said, holding out my arms. Dave looked at the pin-ridden satchel at his feet and turned back to me.

"You sure? Wouldn't wanna hurt anything in there." Dave grabbed the strap, "Here, I'll just hand it to you, you're not that far!" He gingerly put it in my extended arms. My eyelids drooped in disappointment, he was always so damn gentle.

I dug out my sketchbook from the bag and stuck the fortune in a little pocket at the end of the book. I forgot what was going on for a moment as I looked through the tabs I had sticking out of the pages. A stray piece of paper flew out of the book and it reminded me that there was someone just about an arm's length away from me. Dave looked at me with loving eyes as I reached to the floor to grab the rogue paper, my stomach did back flips when I made eye contact with him. And as soon as we made eye contact, we broke it. 

I cleared my throat, "Y'know," I shittily faked a yawn, "I think that food made me sleepy, might head to bed now." I got up to head to my room.

"But it's so early…" Dave frowned, "Come on! We could watch an old concert!" I left the living room before he could say anything else.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Dave trade tops for the day. Mild sexuality incompatibility(????) anger insues.

'Shit!' I thought to myself as I lay in the bottom bunk of our bed in mostly darkness, 'How in the hell do I forget that we share a room!?" I rub my eyes and face palm, we got a bunk bed because we didn't want either of us to sleep on the couch due to the fact that there's one bedroom in this apartment. I think about what happened earlier, there's no way he could be into me, right? I mean, I know I'm gay, he does too… but Dave can't be! Or can he? I try to dig deep into the recesses of my memory for even a peep out of my gaydar, but before I got to anything I heard the door knob jiggle. My eyes widen and I flip over to my side and try to act like I'm sleeping. The door gently opens and Dave mumbles something to himself as he gets undressed. I hear a thump and a yelp soon after, he should've turned on the lights. I stifle a giggle as he approaches our bunk bed. He gets up on his bunk and peers underneath at me, I can feel his stare in the back of my head. I breathe a slight sigh of relief as he settles into bed.

It seems like Dave must have forgotten what had happened because he was acting like his normal, bubbly self. Maybe I just misread the situation, how stupid am I to think he has a thing for me. I silently laughed into my cold cereal before Dave called my name from our room. 

"Can I use your vest today?" he asked politely, holding up my vest, "I've got a lesson to teach today and I want to look extra cool, so y'know they'll think I'm the real deal." I laughed at Dave's wannabe cool guy stance. We borrow each other's jackets and tops often, I tend to wear very baggy clothes so they usually fit him. I mostly wear his jackets, but his shirts run a bit tight on me...

"Yea, of course," I smiled "only if you let me wear your leather jacket today." Dave hesitantly reached for his coveted leather jacket and very gently put it in my arms.

"I suppose it's a fair trade…"

Dave narrowed his eyes and we stood still for a moment, looking at our favorite tops and back at each other, hoping the other takes good care of it. We burst into laughter after a couple more seconds of silence. 

"Please make sure nothing falls off it," I gesture to the patches held up by safety pins that I haven't sewn on yet. "or that you don't stab anyone with the pins." Dave laughs and gently puts it on, adjusting his Whitesnake shirt underneath it. 

"You know, I've always loved the painting you did on the back." He turned his head back to try to look at it. "I like the colors." I had painted a Japanese folklore inspired demon with some pink and blue background colors on the back a while ago, I've had my moments where I wanted to repaint it, but knowing how much Dave loves it makes me want to keep it. Dave looked up at me and smiled the most radiant smile, I've made it my mission for the longest time to keep the relationship platonic because of the incompatibility, but seeing him smile like that always makes me want to reconsider.

I was on the bus on my way to work, wearing Dave's big, bulky jacket, it was about a size too big for my taste, but I never really complain about really big clothes. There was a nice scent in the interior of it, obviously his scent, which made me smile. Whenever I wore his jackets it felt like I was in a big hug, a hug given to me by him. I scrolled through the music I had saved on my phone and figured that I was in the mood for some ABBA, nothing like my usual music taste but who could deny how iconic they were. I was also just in a very romantic mood, likely not for the best, but I never saw any harm in just thinking about it.

'If you're all alone  
When the pretty birds have flown  
Honey, I'm still free  
Take a chance on me  
Gonna do my very best  
And it ain't no lie  
If you put me to the test  
If you let me try'

I clenched my jaw at these lyrics, maybe this wasn't a good idea. 

I got off at my stop and walked a couple of blocks to my job, it's still freezingly cold but the music I was listening to made me almost irrationally angry despite how cheery it was, which made me completely disregard the temperature. Thinking about how unfair it was that someone who I thought could be my soulmate would never be into me, made me incredibly sad but also angry. I was just very hurt, to be frank. 

I opened the door to the store and was greeted by my coworker, Angelica. She’s a very flashy person, always wearing clothes that were adorned with things she’d sewn and glued on herself. I had the basic sewing skills to mend clothes and attach patches, but she knew all the tricks and techniques, so she teaches me on slow days.

“It’s fucking freezing out there, huh?” she said, folding a piece of paper.

“Yea…”


End file.
